‘Would you mind answering the question?’

‘I wanted to make sure he was still at home, watching films.’

‘But he wasn’t home.’

‘Apparently not.’

‘And not even that made you at all worried that something may have been amiss?’

‘Worried? My brother is sick and needs help. He’s been sick for as long as I can remember.’

‘Would you describe him as mentally deficient?’

‘No, I would describe him as a bleeding crackpot, and if you ask me, he shouldn’t be allowed out in public.’ Igor Skanås chuckled and shook his head. ‘Not only does he hear voices, he usually obeys them, too. If he’s cold, he might decide to make a fire in the middle of the floor, and just a few years ago he was convinced he was a French winemaker. For six months he walked around with a red neckerchief and spoke pretend French, even in his sleep.’

‘Fine, but if he’s that bad, why is he living at home?’

‘Good question. Beats me.’

‘It does? I mean, it seems pretty convenient for you to have the house, your car and whatever else registered to your brother. I haven’t checked, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were quite a few unpaid parking tickets.’

‘Look, I’ve tried to get my brother committed a thousand times. But every time, they keep him for a few days, clean him up and do their little studies that more or less give him the medical all-clear, so long as he takes his medication.’ Igor Skanås snorted derisively and shook his head. ‘And you know why? Because they can’t afford to do anything else. Because even though we have some of the highest taxes in the world, we can’t even find the money to look after someone like Assar. That might strike you as a bit odd, until you realize all the money is going to the rainbow of people pouring in across our borders. Apparently, those are the people we should worry about. Not our own.’

‘You almost sounded like you had a point somewhere in that racist rant.’ She stood up, pleased to have hit a nerve. ‘I take it, then, you haven’t been in touch with him since you took to the woods. So if you have nothing more to add, I think we should—’

‘I have. I talked to him last night.’

Lilja stopped mid-step and turned around. ‘Last night? But he wasn’t home last night.’

‘No, so I tried his mobile instead. You might have heard of them.’

‘What, he has a mobile phone? And you’re only telling me now.’

‘You didn’t ask. Besides, you could have just looked him up in the phone book.’

He was right. How could she have missed something so basic. ‘How did he sound?’